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400 BC - Founder of Mohism, Mo-ti, is attributed with the first known mention of the basic concept of a pinhole camera. ("The Camera Obscura in History" Obscura Journal)
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Aristotle made first use of the pinhole camera concept by looking at the sun during a partial solar ellipse by using spaces in between tree leaves and sieves.
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Ibn al-Haytham al Hazen Alhazen, studied the pinhole concept and somewhat understood it. At the same time an English monk and scientist Robert Bacon mentioned the Pinhole Concept in their writings
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Shen Kuo experimented with camera obscura, and was the first to apply geometrical and quantitative attributes to it in his book of 1088 AD, the Dream Pool Essays. Shen never claims in his book that he was the first to experiment with a pinhole camera ("The Camera Obscura in History" Obscura Journal)
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16th century: Brightness and clarity of camera obscuras improved by enlarging the hole inserting a telescope lens.
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Professor J. Schulze mixes chalk, nitric acid, and silver in a flask; notices darkening on side of flask exposed to sunlight. Accidental creation of the first photo-sensitive compound.
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Thomas Wedgwood makes "sun pictures" by placing opaque objects on leather treated with silver nitrate; resulting images deteriorated rapidly, however, if displayed under light stronger than from candles. ("History of Photography Timeline." photo.net)
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Nicéphore Niépce combines the camera obscura with photosensitive paper. ("History of Photography Timeline." photo.net)
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Niépce creates a permanent image
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creates permanent (negative) images using paper soaked in silver chloride and fixed with a salt solution. Talbot created positive images by contact printing onto another sheet of paper. ("History of Photography Timeline." Photo.net)
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Beginning of stereoscopic era.
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: Scottish physicist James Clerk-Maxwell demonstrates a color photography system involving three black and white photographs, each taken through a red, green, or blue filter. The photos were turned into lantern slides and projected in registration with the same color filters. This is the "color separation" method. ("History of Photography Timeline." phono.net)
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Mathew Brady and staff (mostly staff) covers the American Civil War, exposing 7000 negatives 1861-1865
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The company Kodak was established this year by George Eastmen.
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Fuji Photo Film founded. By 1938, Fuji is making cameras and lenses in addition to film.
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Polaroid goes bankrupt and the beginning of digital storage rather then conventional light to chemical method.
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Most of every photo or video taken or recorded is now stored digitally. New methods and software lead to much higher megapixel abilities on a commercial level. Photography is currently at its highest quality.
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